One congresswoman making an economically illiterate statement on a comedian’s podcast is perhaps not a news story. But Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is arguably the most visible Democrat on Capitol Hill, and her recent comments about billionaires are part of a broad trend among Democrats and their base to inveigh against wealth creation.

As ignorant as their arguments are, it is not merely rhetoric when it influences public opinion and becomes what the youngest and most passionate Democrats believe — and they have a destructive policy agenda to back it up.